Microsoft unveils a boxy new Windows-inspired logo

The first new corporate logo in 25 years.

Microsoft is changing its corporate logo for the first time in 25 years. As the Metro-ification of the company continues, Microsoft has revealed a new logo that reflects its new approach to visual design.

For the first time in its history, Microsoft has a graphical symbol as part of its logo. Four colored squares sit to the left of the company name written in its Segoe typeface. Segoe is the font family of choice for Metro applications.

The new logo is extremely simple. The old logo had some nuance, with the way the 's' takes a notch out of the 'o'. This is now gone, though the ligature of the 'f' and 't' is retained.

From disco to metal: Microsoft's first two logos

Microsoft

This is Microsoft's fifth corporate logo. Its very earliest logo, used between 1975 and 1979, was a product of its time, a disco logo for the disco generation. Back then, the company called itself "Micro-Soft," a feature reflected in the split name.

In 1980 the company sold consumer-oriented products with a short-lived logo that was just a spurious umlaut away from being a heavy metal band.

In 1982, Redmond rolled out a new logo, all upper case with a weird patterned 'o' that came to be known as the 'blibbet'.

To the chagrin of many blibbet fans, that logo too was replaced. In 1987, the company switched to its longest-lived logo, the one it used until today. This was a much simpler, less ornate logo than any of the predecessors. It was the first to use mixed case type, with only the notched Pac-Man-like 'o' offering anything unusual.

The long-lived Pac-Man logo.

Microsoft

The design of the newest logo, or specifically its symbol part, is more than a little surprising. Earlier in the year, Microsoft revealed a new Windows logo. Office 2013 also has a new logo. Both of these logos share some design cues, in particular, the use of a perspective effect on their symbols.

Windows in perspective...

Microsoft

This perspective effect is a little odd in the context of the Metro transition, because it implies a kind of fake depth—precisely the kind of fakery that Metro eschews.

... and Office too. Clearly related.

Microsoft

The new symbol, however, is flat; a square of squares. While this makes it a better match for Metro aesthetics, it also means that it has no visual connection or association with the other new symbols. The Office and Windows symbols are clearly related; the Microsoft one is not.

I knew I'd seen that arrangement of colored squares somewhere before!

Microsoft

Also strange is the use of color. The colors and their positioning are more than a little reminiscent of the old Windows symbol. It's as if Microsoft has taken the old Windows branding and decided to use it as part of the new corporate branding.

To those familiar with the company's old branding, the new logo looks strangely mismatched: the symbol says "Windows" but the logotype says "Microsoft."

The company says that the squares of color are "intended to express the company’s diverse portfolio of products." A more cynical view might be that they're intended to reestablish the immediate name recognition that was lost when the new monochrome Windows logo was revealed.

The new logo is already being used on the microsoft.com site and three of the company's stores. It will be rolled out more widely over the coming months.

I like the 1987 logo best. But this change is a good thing. I wish they had gone for the Microsoft store logo though. Its the same 4 blocks, but with the lower inner corner a ligher shade of colour. http://emea.microsoftstore.com/UK/en-GB. You can still see it in the browser tab icon.

This logo works better than the others in my opinion. It might connect better with the new Windows logo if the new Windows logo wasn't so terrible. But, in fairness, the new Windows logo is terrible in order to reflect the new Windows look.

The "windows" in the logo have colors. Cyan represents Windows (I guess) and Orange represents Office, but what does green and yellow represent. I'd have to see logos for other MS products to make sense of it all.

I think a lot of you are missing the point. The logo is supposed to convey simplicity (which is what MS is going for with the layout) and yet harkens back to their history via the Windows color squares. Personally, I like it. The fact that they went so far as to change the corporate look tells me they're gunning for change, though time will tell if they're successful or not.

The "windows" in the logo have colors. Cyan represents Windows (I guess) and Orange represents Office, but what does green and yellow represent. I'd have to see logos for other MS products to make sense of it all.

To those familiar with the company's old branding, the new logo looks strangely mismatched: the symbol says "Windows" but the logotype says "Microsoft."

I think that's only because Windows is older and more widely used than everything else Microsoft does. The new logo is more like the old MS Store logo, and is also quite similar to the old Office logo; in other words, it ties together the logos they used to have. The flag, more than the colored boxes, was the Windows logo. See also the picture at http://arstechnica.com/information-tech ... on-photos/

The "windows" in the logo have colors. Cyan represents Windows (I guess) and Orange represents Office, but what does green and yellow represent. I'd have to see logos for other MS products to make sense of it all.

Green I suspect means XBox. Yellow for Surface, maybe?

For real, I think they need to show this new logo alongside their other logos and people will get it (and stop bitching).

The "windows" in the logo have colors. Cyan represents Windows (I guess) and Orange represents Office, but what does green and yellow represent. I'd have to see logos for other MS products to make sense of it all.

Green I suspect means XBox. Yellow for Surface, maybe?

Looking at it that way, I always associated yellow with their server products. Not sure where I got that from to be honest.

The colors in the windows logo started out as their own thing, just a way to infer "windows multitasks" and then the brand police turned them into something else, firstly for office:

This band differentiation will kill them because of their "brand identity" efforts with their crappy phone OS. Once MS gives up on phone, why will go back to copying Apple, but not before the world switches over to Mint Linux.

Now that we have usable Open Office, Gimp *finally* has single window mode, and Steam is pushing Linux games, we'll never have a reason to be dragged along by MS again. This is a huge gambit for MS and the only outcome can be market loss.

Designing corporate logos has got to the easiest job in the world. Companies drop $millions on the mistaken belief that it's going to make a difference and all the designer does is chose a different font, maybe change the spacing, or perhaps pick a different color.

I like it ok. Simple, clean, and if they can color-code their flagship products like Shinzakura and acrodelpi suggest, it's got some nice brandability to it. For all the people ragging on how ugly the logos have always been, I was kinda surprised that their last logo lasted so long. That's an extremely tasteful logo for '87.

This band differentiation will kill them because of their "brand identity" efforts with their crappy phone OS. Once MS gives up on phone, why will go back to copying Apple, but not before the world switches over to Mint Linux.

Now that we have usable Open Office, Gimp *finally* has single window mode, and Steam is pushing Linux games, we'll never have a reason to be dragged along by MS again. This is a huge gambit for MS and the only outcome can be market loss.

I lolerskated. That's good!

------As far as the colors, I don't believe they map to any individual product. They have "diverse products" shown by diverse colors. I like "stately" logos so this one really jives with me. The only real logo change that bugged me was when Amazon went from the A-Z logo that looked creepily like a smile.